FC Köln sporting director Michael Meier has revealed that his club has turned down a €3.5 million (£2.8 million) Town bid for their Slovenian international striker Milivoje Novakovic.
Meier says Town's 1981 UEFA Cup semi-final opponents are not looking to off-load their player: "Ipswich have made us a written offer that was not bad, but we will not sell Novakovic. He is not for sale."
In addition to the fee, the Blues were reportedly ready to offer the Slovenian personal terms worth €1 million a season (£800,000).
Novakovic is an important member of the FC Köln side which won promotion back to the Bundesliga last season and scored their goal in last Saturday's opening day 2-1 defeat at Wolfsburg.
TWTD's German sources suggest a fee of nearer €5 million (£4 million) would be closer his club's valuation, with the likes of Schalke 04 previously linked.
The 6ft 3in tall frontman is very much in the mould of the type of striker Jim Magilton has been targeting of late.
The 29-year-old played youth football with NK Olimpija in his home country, but started his professional career with ASK Voitsberg in Austria in 2002, before moving on to another Austrian side SV Mattersburg.
After half a season with Mattersburg, Novakovic joined LASK Linz, his third Austrian side, prior to signing for Bulgarian club Litex Lovech in the summer of 2005.
A year later and the Ljubljana-born frontman was on the move again, this time to current club FC Köln for €1.5 million (£1.2 million).
During his time in Austria Novakovic averaged around one goal in every three league games, but with Litex Lovech he netted 19 goals in 27 league games and with FC Köln has scored 31 times in 51 league matches. Last month, his 20 goals during last season's promotion campaign led to the agreement of a one-year contract extension until the summer of 2011.
Novakovic has scored six goals in 18 full internationals for his country, including a hat-trick in a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago in 2006.